Kharge's 'Modi ka baap bhi jayega' remark at Patna event sparks row; Amit Shah hits back, BJP seeks action

The man was identified as Santosh Kumar. He was roughed up by Congress supporters and forced out of the venue. He later told reporters that his words had been misunderstood. He said he had meant that Modi would not go unless there was a rebellion, and that only part of what he said had been heard.

Shah responded on X. He said that Kharge had insulted the Prime Minister's late father and disregarded political decorum. He said the Congress had repeatedly targeted Modi and his family, and listed earlier remarks about the Prime Minister's mother, the phrase 'merchant of death' and the mocking of his humble background as a tea seller. The attacks, he said, had become more personal under Rahul Gandhi's leadership. He also said it was not the first time.

BJP president Nitin Nabin called the language a sign of the Congress's ideological bankruptcy. In Bihar, the state BJP president, Sanjay Saraogi, called the remark unfortunate and said that it reflected the Congress's frustration, and that political differences do not justify personal attacks. A senior JD(U) leader, Rajeev Ranjan, condemned the remark and asked the Congress to reflect on its electoral setbacks in Bihar. A BJP state working committee member, Krishna Singh Kallu, gave a written complaint asking for action over the statement.

The Congress reply

The Congress defended its president. Party spokesperson Pawan Khera said that the BJP hatches new conspiracies every day, and argued that the BJP was behind the ruckus at the event. On social media, users recalled an earlier jibe by Shah at Rahul Gandhi, and the exchange has become a trading of personal remarks by both sides.

The incident raises two separate questions. One is the remark itself, which the BJP and its allies call an insult to the Prime Minister's family. The other is the treatment of the man who shouted from the crowd, who was pushed and thrown out of an open public meeting by supporters of the speaker, and who says he was misunderstood. Neither the police nor the party has said whether any action is being considered about that, and a complaint has so far been made only about the remark. The Congress has not issued an apology in the reports available. Kharge has not publicly explained the remark beyond the context of the meeting, and it is not clear whether he will be asked to.

The row has overshadowed the content of the speech. Kharge used the same address to call the protests against the revision of electoral rolls a second war of independence, and to demand a halt to the revision, a return to ballot papers and the annulment of assembly polls held in the past two years. Those demands are part of the build-up to the opposition's rally at Ramlila Maidan on 1 November, and the BJP will be glad to talk about the remark instead.

For the Congress, the risk is that a single line becomes the story of its campaign for the week ahead. For the BJP, a personal attack on the Prime Minister's family has long been an effective rallying point, and it has used it before. Neither side gains if the debate stays on language, and both have a record of using strong words about each other's leaders.

A complaint is not a case, and whether the police register an FIR will depend on what the complaint alleges and what the video shows. For now, the row is political. The date to watch is 1 November, when the Congress and its allies hope to fill Ramlila Maidan, and the BJP will be watching for what is said from the stage.